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BMO Field plan is worth a look: James

For a $10-million city loan, MLSE is investing $90 million, will take all the risks and guarantee a revenue stream. What’s not to like?

MLSE wants to expand BMO Field, at Exhibition Place, from its present 20,000 capacity to 30,000 - and up to 40,000 on a temporary basis, as for the Pan Am Games in 2015. (DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR file photo)

Why would I want to give a penny of taxpayers’ money to one of the richest ownership groups in sports? Couldn’t think of a single reason until now.

It’s easy to dislike Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, the overstuffed, highly profitable outfit that has sucked millions upon millions of dollars out of Toronto fans’ pockets and delivered nothing but heartbreak, disappointment and disillusionment.

Winning and championships and victory parades don’t spring to mind when Torontonians debate MLSE franchises: the venerable and once storied Toronto Maple Leafs now 47years without a Stanley Cup; the Toronto Raptors that are respectable this year but far from a basketball championship pedigree; or soccer’s Toronto FC, resurrected by a “bloody big deal” that is Jermain Defoe.

Apparently, MLSE is about to buy the Toronto Argos, the only franchise that, at least occasionally, delivers the Grey Cup. Based on MLSE history, they’ll immediately turn the football team into a money-making machine but a loser on the field; great for the shareholders, ruinous for fans.

Only the deluded and hopelessly smitten citizen has anything but contempt for the sports ownership group that has perfected the art of enriching its shareholders and despoiling its sports teams.

So, the reflex action on hearing that MLSE wants to dip its hands into the taxpayer’s pocket to gussy up BMO Field is to retch and say, “No way, José.”

Yes, we are hooked on your product. Yes, every year you seduce us into thinking fortunes will change and Toronto will get a winner. But, as rich as you are, you should be able to pay your own way, build your own stadium, assume your own risks, and not go to the taxpayer for a handout.

That’s the starting position. But upon further review . . .

Toronto taxpayers own the stadium. The site used to be home to what was then called CNE Stadium and was home to Grandstand shows during the CNE. The annual fair would so rip up the grass field that when the Argos returned from road trips it was near unplayable.

Taxpayers paid huge amounts to renovate and expand it to accommodate the Blue Jays. Then the baseball team moved to the SkyDome, now the Rogers Centre. By 2006, drawing very few events, the stadium was again rebuilt to accommodate Toronto FC, the new team in town.

Toronto taxpayers paid $9.8 million for the latest fix-up, and donated the land valued at $10 million to make that work. MLSE contributed $18 million, with $27 million coming from the federal government and $8 million from the province.

That deal runs until 2027, earning the city non-guaranteed rent and parking revenues that have averaged $865,000 a year. Now, MLSE wants to expand the stadium and extend the deal to 2037 and guarantee the city more revenue than it currently gets.

MLSE would bankroll $90 million of the $120 million renovation, be responsible for cost overruns, operate the stadium, move the Argos there from the Rogers Centre, attract more events, and add money to everyone’s pockets — including theirs, of course.

Best of all, Toronto’s $10-million contribution to a stadium it owns would be recouped from the deal.

Between 2014 and 2037, the city would be guaranteed $25.4 million in lease payments, plus an estimated $6 million in potential parking revenues. The $31 million total is $19 million more than the current income.

But because the city has to borrow the $10 million, it will cost nearly $15 million in principal and interest to retire the debt, leaving the city $4 million in the black.

The city’s chief financial officer Rob Rossini spells it out: “MLSE is investing $90 million into our facility. They take all the risks. They guarantee a revenue stream, plus we get higher parking revenues.

“I know it’s an election year, we are talking about a billion-dollar corporation, corporate welfare . . . yada, yada. But, why would I say no to that?”

Convincing as this is, maybe Rossini can insert one conditional clause when the issue goes to city council. It should read:

“MLSE must pay back the entire $10 million if each of its teams — Leafs, Raps, Argos and TFC — fails to bring home a championship by 2027, the 60th anniversary of the Leafs’ last Stanley Cup.”

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